’’Hot,’’metastable atom, molecular beam source

Abstract

A molecular beam source for high‐energy metastable atoms, utilizing a corona discharge, is described. It was designed for scattering experiments where accurate alignment of beam components is required. The metastable atoms produced in this source have kinetic energies from 5 to 74 eV dependent on the species and sufficient velocity selection to reveal structure in the differential cross sections. These high‐energy metastables were previously reported as photons. When the molecular beam source was operated at 200–300 Torr, a supersonic beam of metastables was produced. An optimization of operating conditions produced a supersonic beam flux two orders of magnitude greater than previously reported.